The Met’s Other Failure
The museum’s John Galliano exhibition had problems beyond the designer’s past transgressions.
TL;DR
- The Met Museum canceled its exhibition on John Galliano due to controversy surrounding his past anti-Semitic remarks.
- Galliano's history includes a drunken anti-Semitic rant in 2011, a guilty verdict for anti-Semitic and anti-Asian insults, and recent claims of similar comments.
- The exhibition was intended to explore how Galliano's conduct altered his career, but faced opposition from museum donors and public figures.
- A long-standing unofficial rule of the Costume Institute was to avoid solo shows of living designers to prevent them from appearing as advertising.
- Past exceptions, like Yves Saint Laurent and Rei Kawakubo, were controversial and aimed to separate cultural analysis from commercialism.
- Honoring a living designer like Galliano, even while addressing his past, could benefit him through publicity and prestige, raising ethical questions.
- The article suggests fashion museums should reconsider solo retrospectives of living artists and the historical reasons for such norms.